


in love with you or something

by Whyyyyy



Series: cadnis canon fics [1]
Category: Heathers: The Musical - Murphy & O'Keefe, Mean Girls - Richmond/Benjamin/Fey
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:14:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24738241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whyyyyy/pseuds/Whyyyyy
Summary: everyone knows that janis and cady have feelings for each other... except for janis and cady
Relationships: Cady Heron/Aaron Samuels (past), Cady Heron/Janis Sarkisian, Damian Hubbard & Janis Sarkisian, Damian Hubbard/Aaron Samuels, Heather McNamara/Veronica Sawyer, Regina George & Janis Sarkisian, Regina George/Gretchen Wieners (mentioned)
Series: cadnis canon fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2149737
Comments: 5
Kudos: 55





	1. Chapter 1

The first time anyone realized that Cady and Janis might be in love with each other or something was about three months after Spring Fling. Janis and Damian were sitting at their usual lunch table, waiting for Cady and Aaron. 

Damian was gazing thoughtfully at Janis. After several minutes of this, Janis broke the silence.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Damian."

"I was just thinking..." he trailed off, squirming under the look Janis was giving him. "thatyouneedagirlfriend," he mumbled.

Janis blinked. "What?"

"You heard me."

"I was hoping I heard wrong."

"I'm sorry!" Damian protested. "But it's true! Cady's dating Aaron, and even Regina is dating Gretchen now. You should have someone too!"

"I don't need a girlfriend to be happy, Damian."

"I know, but I think that having a girlfriend would make you happy."

"Karen Smith isn't dating anyone, and she seems perfectly fine."

"I'm pretty sure Karen's ace, sweetie."

"You aren't dating anyone." 

"That's because I'm too fabulous for anyone. No normal humans can handle all my beautiful energy." 

Janis scowled and opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted by a loud smack as Cady dropped her lunch tray onto the table. Janis and Damian both turned to see the redhead standing next to Aaron, both of them looking decidedly less happy than usual.

"Hey, Caddy, what's up?" Janis smiled at her friends, grateful for the subject change.

"Aaron and I broke up." Cady said, taking a seat at the table.

"What? Why?" Janis and Damian glanced at each other.

"It just wasn't working out," Aaron said, shrugging. Cady nodded along.

"Who broke up with who?" Janis asked, wincing as Damian elbowed her. "Sorry, but I need to know if I need to kick Aaron's ass."

Aaron laughed. "Just when I thought you were starting to like me, Sarkisian." Janis rolled her eyes.

"I broke up with him, Janis," Cady said quietly. 

"But it was kind of mutual," Aaron added.

Janis looked back and forth between them, fighting the urge to question them further. "Are you guys okay?" she said finally.

Cady and Aaron glanced at each other, then nodded.

"Yeah. It was the right thing to do." Cady said decisively.

"Let us know if either of you need anything," Janis said, but she was looking only at Cady.

"Thanks, Jan." Cady stood. "This cafeteria food is disgusting. I'm throwing it out." 

Janis's eyes followed her across the cafeteria until she tore her gaze away to see Damian and Aaron staring at her. "What?" Janis asked for the third time that day.

"You," Damian poked her in the shoulder, "Are into Cady."

"What? Cady? No I'm not!" Janis squawked, cursing the heat that was rising to her cheeks. 

"Yes you are." This from Aaron. Janis turned to him, surprised.

"Aaron, you literally just broke up with her."

"I know. That doesn't make you any less into her, though."

"Who's into who?" Cady was back. 

"Nothing," Janis said quickly. But when Cady glanced away, Damian grinned at Janis and pointed between the two girls. 

"This is so happening," he whispered. Janis sighed.


	2. Chapter 2

The second time anyone mentioned the Cady/Janis thing was a few weeks later. Janis was talking to Regina George, per Cady's request. "I just want you guys to stop hating each other," Cady had said. Janis wasn't so sure that would ever happen, but she was willing to try, if only because it made Cady so happy to see them talking. So Janis cornered Regina in the hallway. 

"What do you want, Sarkisian?" Regina folded her arms. "I've already apologized to you for all that shit I did to you. What more do you want?"

"Is it a crime to want to talk to you now?" Janis asked innocently.

"No, but as I recall, the first time I tried to apologize to you, you told me to go find another bus to get hit by."

Janis winced. "I didn't actually mean it, you know that, right?"

"My point still stands."

"Okay," Janis gave in. "Cady asked me to talk to you. She wants us to be friends again. I don't know if that's possible, but..." she trailed off. 

"Hmm." Regina cocked her head at Janis. "You really love her, don't you?"

"Wha- who-" Janis spluttered. Regina rolled her eyes.

"Don't do that, Sarkisian. You literally do anything Cady tells you to. It's kinda pathetic. In a sweet way," she added, almost as an afterthought.

"Wow. Was that you trying to compliment me?"

"Don't flatter yourself. And don't change the subject. You, Janis Sarkisian, are in love with Cady Heron."

"Shhh!" Janis slammed a hand over Regina's mouth. "Not so loud."

"So you admit it," Regina said around Janis's fingers.

"I didn't say that."

Regina batted Janis's hand away, grinning. 

"I've figured it out."

"Figured what out?" Janis asked sullenly.

"How we're gonna fix this friendship."

Janis stared at her, taken aback. "I didn't think you cared about this friendship."

"Of course I do. I didn't apologize for nothing, you know. I genuinely feel bad about what I did to you. I was scared and projecting my fears onto you, which isn't an excuse, but..." Regina trailed off, lost in thought. After a moment, she seemed to pull herself together. "Anyway. I'm going to make it up to you by setting you up with Cady."

Janis grimaced. "You may have to fight Damian and Aaron for that privilege."


	3. Chapter 3

The third time anyone brought it up was two days after Janis's conversation with Regina. Damian and Aaron were at Aaron's house, studying for a test, when they both got a text from the last person they'd expect.

Regina_George: I know that the three of us aren't really friends.

Aaron glanced up at Damian, then typed out a response.

Aaron_Samuels: understatement of the year

Regina_George: Alright, fine. I know that neither of you are very big fans of me, and I did shit to you both that I probably should apologize for. And I will. Later. Right now I need your help.

Damian_Hubbard: the great regina george asking for our help? what has happened to the world?

Aaron_Samuels: what makes you think we'd want to help you, regina?

Regina_George: It's for the greater good.

Damian_Hubbard: oh, well of course, if it's for the Greater Good, we'll definitely want to team up with the bitch that ruined our lives.

Regina_George: Oh please, I did much worse to Janis, and she forgave me.

Damian_Hubbard: only because she wanted to make cady happy

Regina_George: Which brings me to my point. We need to set up Cady and Janis.

Damian and Aaron stared at each other.

"The hell?" Damian said after a moment. Aaron shrugged and returned to Regina's text.

Aaron_Samuels: okay now i get your greater good statement

Damian_Hubbard: yeah we're in what's the plan

Regina_George: Wow, that was easier than I thought. 

Damian_Hubbard: i've been waiting for this ever since cady came to north shore, not much can stop me now

Regina_George: That's valid. And I don't actually have a plan, I was hoping you guys could help me out with that. Can you come over?

Damian and Aaron glanced at each other again, and without speaking agreed on their answer.

Aaron_Samuels: be there in ten

Regina opened the door to her huge mansion of a house and let Aaron and Damian inside. Damian stared around in awe, and even Aaron, who had been inside the house before, looked a little impressed. 

"So," Regina began as they followed her out onto the back porch, "How long have you guys been together?"

"What?!" Damian and Aaron cried simultaneously. Regina rolled her eyes.

"Don't even bother to deny it. I have a sixth sense about these things."

Damian sighed. "A week."

Regina nodded, flashed a smug smile at them, then turned to her desk and pulled out a notebook. "Okay. So Janis pretty much admitted to me the other day that she's in love with Cady, and any idiot can see that Cady feels the same way. Unfortunately they have no idea how obvious it is, so getting them together might prove a bit of a problem." Flipping the notebook open, she eyed the two boys expectantly. "Any ideas?" 

"Uh..." Neither of the boys had expected Regina to be so... professional about it. "Not really?"

Regina rolled her eyes. "Wow. I don't know why I bothered to include you guys in this. You're clearly useless."

Damian glared at her. "We're doing you a favor, remember? You could be a little nicer."

Regina winced. "Right. Sorry. I'm still working on this not-being-a-bitch thing." She sat down on her fluffy pink bed, closing her notebook. "Um... I guess that before we start with this I should probably apologize to you both, right?"

Damian and Aaron folded their arms and waited, expressions hard. Regina scowled at them. "Don't do that. This is hard enough as it is."

Damian laughed coldly. "Hard for you? You're not the one who-"

"I get it, Damian," Regina snapped. "I get that I was a bitch to both of you, okay? I'm sorry. I really am. And I'm not used to giving apologies, so yeah, this is kinda hard. But I'm really trying to be better, you know? I'd appreciate not being reminded of my past mistakes every two seconds."

The boys shared a glance, then joined Regina on the bed. Regina took several deep breaths, then said, "Sorry for yelling. Let me try that again." She turned to Aaron. "Look, Aaron. I'm really sorry that I used you. Even if I was straight, it would still have been wrong of me. The fact that I used you as both a beard and to make Cady miserable was super fucked up. I get that now. So. Yeah. I'm sorry."

Aaron smiled. "It's okay. It wasn't that bad."

"Oh no, Samuels, don't you dare," Regina held up a finger. "You do not get to hold this over my head and then-"

"Relax, Reggie," Aaron laughed, batting her finger away. "I was kidding. It was pretty bad. But I forgive you."

"Oh. Well, cool." Regina gave herself a little shake, then seemed to regain her composure. She turned to Damian. "Damian. I know that I never specifically targeted you like I did Janis," She swallowed at the reminder of what she'd done to Janis. "But you received a lot of shit just for being friends with her. I didn't tell people to do all of it, but most of it was because of stuff that I started. So I'm sorry about that. And," She stopped Damian before he could speak. "I also know that you're still mad on Janis's behalf, which I totally deserve. But I just want you to know that I'm fixing things with Janis. I apologized to her a few months ago, and we've been talking a little bit since. That's actually part of the reason that I want to set her up with Cady. After all I did to make her miserable, I just want to do something that will make her happy."

"Wow," Damian said softly. "That's actually super sweet of you, Regina." Regina smiled shyly at that. "And I forgive you too," Damian added. "Thanks for the speech."

Regina laughed. Together, the three of them looked down at the notebook in Regina's lap.

"Okay," Aaron said after a second. "Let's do this."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> so i borrowed the concept of veronica and heather mcnamara being janis's moms from a few other fics i've seen, don't kill me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do y'all want another chapter, or should i end it here?

Damian and Aaron stayed at Regina's house well into the night, trying to come up with setup ideas. When the clock reached 11pm and they hadn't come up with anything, the three of them agreed to give up for the night and keep brainstorming another time.

In the end, though, a setup wasn't neccesary.

Janis was sitting in bed, sketching, when her phone rang. Seeing Cady's number flashing across the screen, Janis picked up the phone, trying hard to ignore the way her heartbeat sped up. 

"Hey, Caddy, what's up?"

"Can I come over?" Cady's voice sounded a little frantic, her breath quick in Janis's ear.

"Caddy, it's almost midnight." Janis frowned. "Is everything okay?"

"Yep!" Cady squeaked, her voice at least three octaves higher than ususal. "Everything's totally grool. I mean, uh -"

"Cady."

Cady sighed. "I just... I can't sleep, and I just really need to talk to someone."

Janis nodded slowly, then remembered that Cady couldn't see her. "Yeah, okay. Come through the back door, though."

"Okay." Cady sounded relieved. "I'll be there in like ten minutes."

"Be safe," Janis said, then hung up, cursing herself for sounding too much like a mom. 

Fifteen minutes later, Janis jumped as a door slammed downstairs, followed by a muttered 'shit'. She crept down the stairs and saw Cady's small frame outlined by the soft glow of lamplight. Forcing her stupid heart to stop doing cartwheels, she signaled for Cady to follow her upstairs. Once they were safely inside Janis's room, the two girls sat down on Janis's bed, facing each other.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Janis asked, brushing a lock of two-toned hair behind her ear. "You sounded kinda freaked out on the phone."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Cady assured her, though she still looked distracted. "My brain just does weird things at night sometimes, and I can't sleep until I get out of my own head. You know?"

Janis nodded. "Do you... wanna talk about it?"

"Nah," Cady shook her head. "Let's just watch a movie or something."

Janis smiled. "Sounds good to me." She scooted up onto her pillows and reached for her laptop. Cady wiggled up beside her and curled up against Janis's side, resting her head on her shoulder. Janis wrapped an arm around Cady's shoulders as she pulled up Netflix, commanding her pulse to get its act together. Before long, both girls were fast asleep.

When Janis woke up the next morning, it took her a few seconds to remember why there was a girl in her bedroom. Then the events of last night came flooding back, and she smiled. Climbing carefully over Cady, who was still asleep, Janis got dressed quickly and was in the middle of brushing her teeth when Cady woke up.

"Janis?" Cady poked her head around the bathroom door. "Oh. Hey."

"Morning," Janis said, rinsing out her toothbrush. Cady stepped around the door and boosted herself onto the counter, watching as Janis began applying her makeup.

"Sleep well?" Janis asked, glancing over at the other girl. 

"Huh?" Cady shook herself, pulling her mind out of whatever faraway world it had been in. "Oh. Yeah."

Janis furrowed her brow but kept her mouth shut. 

"Um, Jan?" Cady said timidly after a beat of silence.

"Yeah?"

"I... I need to tell you something."

Janis put down the lipstick she'd been applying and turned to Cady, hands on her hips. "Caddy, you're acting really weird. What is it you need to tell me?"

"I, um, wasn't super honest about the reason I came over here last night."

Janis gestured impatiently for her to continue.

"The truth is, I couldn't sleep because... I'minlovewithyou," she said in a rush, glancing quickly at Janis's face before fixing her gaze on her lap again. "And it was eating me up, I couldn't keep it a secret anymore, so I was gonna tell you last night but I chickened out and..." Cady trailed off, risking another glance at Janis's face, which was slack with shock.

There was silence for a long moment while Janis processed everything Cady had just said. Then, before she could overthink it, Janis crossed the room in one swift motion and kissed Cady. 

There was one terrible, sickening moment when Cady was completely still, and Janis began to panic that maybe she'd misunderstood, but then suddenly Cady was kissing her back, and everything was right in the world. 

"Janis?" Veronica poked her head inside the bathroom. "Cady's mom just called us and..." she gasped upon seeing the two girls making out against the sink.

"Veronica? Everything okay in there?" Heather's face appeared beside Veronica's. "Omigosh!" Heather squeaked. "It's finally happening!" she clapped, bouncing happily on the balls of her feet. Janis pulled away from Cady, grinning sheepishly at her moms. Veronica was frowning a little, her protective mom instincts kicking in, and Heather appeared to be slowly dying of excitement.

"Veronica, I need help in the kitchen, can you come with me?" Heather tugged on her wife's arm, and Veronica reluctantly followed her out of the room. Janis smiled and turned back to Cady, who looked a little intimidated. 

"Don't worry about them," Janis said softly, wrapping her arms around Cady's neck. "They'll calm down eventually."

"If you say so," Cady said with a nervous laugh. Janis pressed another kiss to her cheek.

"So Caddy," she said casually, "wanna be my girlfriend?"

Cady leaned her head on Janis's shoulder. "I thought you'd never ask."


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> so this chapter kinda sucks but it's also kind of amazing. enjoy? i hope?

"Are you sure?" Cady bit her lip, gazing worriedly up at Janis. They were standing just outside the cafeteria, talking quietly. "We don't have to tell anyone yet if you don't want to," Cady said.

Janis smiled. "It's fine, Caddy. I want to tell people about us."

Cady nodded. "Yeah, okay. I just... I know you dealt with a lot of crap for being gay, and I don't want to make it worse for you."

Janis threaded her fingers through her girlfriend's. "That's sweet of you," she said, "but it's not really like that anymore. Once Regina stopped hating me, so did the rest of the school. And besides," she added, a mischievous gleam appearing in her eyes, "if anyone gives us crap now, we just tell them to go fuck themselves. I'd rather be me, remember?"

Cady grinned, rising up on her tiptoes to kiss her girlfriend's cheek. Then, together, the walked into the cafeteria. 

They were met with a very odd sight.

The Plastics were sitting at their usual table. But Damian and Aaron were sitting with them. 

Janis and Cady both stopped short at the table, gaping at the group. 

"Care to explain what's going on here?" Janis asked when she recovered a little from the shock. 

"Regina invited us to sit here," Damian said, shrugging. "So we did."

Janis folded her arms. "That's not an answer. You hated all of these people yesterday."

Damian looked uncomfortable. "Well... things change."

"Clearly," Janis folded her arms. 

"Oh come on, Sarkisian, get over yourself," Regina rolled her eyes. "It's just lunch. Sit down already."

Janis eyed her suspiciously, but slid into a seat next to Damian. Cady hesitated for a second before following suit. Janis had almost forgotten about telling everyone about her and Cady when she noticed Regina frowning at her and Cady's linked hands. 

Janis cleared her throat. "Oh yeah, um, might as well do this now..." she began, then stopped, unsure of how to continue.

Cady gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and said, "Janis and I are together," she finished, unable to contain an elated grin.

There was a clang as Damian dropped his fork, followed by ten seconds of dead silence as everyone tried to figure out how to react. Then the table erupted into cheers.

For several minutes, there was the chaos of everyone congratulating the girls, whispering to each other about how they always knew, et cetera. Once everything calmed down a bit and everyone was back in their seats, Damian remembered about the setup plot.

"You know," he said, grinning at Janis, "We were gonna try to set you guys up. We brainstormed for hours and everything."

"Who's we?" Cady asked.

"Damian and Regina and me," Aaron said. Then he blushed. "Oh. Also this happened." He gestured to him and Damian. "We're together. We've been hiding it."

So then everyone had to do the cheering-getting-up-to-congratulate thing all over again. When everyone sat down for the second time, Gretchen glanced around. "Hey, speaking of which, where'd Regina go?"

Everyone scanned the cafeteria, mystified by the ex-Plastic's sudden disappearance, until Janis spotted a mane of blonde curls turning the corner into the girl's bathroom. Janis pointed this out to the rest of the group, but when Gretchen began to rise from her seat, Janis stopped her. 

"I'll go talk to her," Janis said, and followed Regina into the bathroom.

The blonde was leaning over the sink, head in her hands, when Janis entered the bathroom.

"Alright. Spill." Janis folded her arms. "What's going on?"

Regina turned to face her, and Janis was more than a little relieved to see that her eyes were dry, at least for the moment. "What do you want, Janis?" Regina sighed.

"I want you to tell me why you just disappeared for no apparent reason."

"Janis, I don't know why you even bother to talk to me," Regina snapped, no doubt trying to regain some of her old rock hard attitude. But her voice broke on the last word, and it came out sounding more sad than mean.

"Haven't we already talked about this?" Janis said impatiently. "Don't change the subject. Spill."

"Damn it, Janis, you ruin everything!" Regina shouted, then clapped a hand over her mouth, shaking with suppressed sobs.

"What are you talking about?" Janis took a step closer, not sure what to do. 

"I was such a fucking bitch to you," Regina whispered. "And then with this Cady thing, I thought I'd finally found a way to make it up to you. I know how much you love her, and I wanted... I wanted to make you happy. And I thought that setting you guys up would at least partly make up for all I did to make you miserable. But then you had to go and get together all by yourselves, and now... I've got nothing."

Janis leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. There was silence for a long moment while Regina tried to compose herself (and failed miserably) and Janis took several deep breaths.

"Are you... meditating?" Regina asked, smirking a little despite herself.

Janis's eyes snapped open. "Yes. It's something I learned in therapy."

At that, Regina's smirk slid off her face.

"I'm kidding," Janis said quickly, placing a hand on Regina's shoulder. "Sorry. That was mean. I'll be serious now."

Regina huffed out a breath and muttered, "Oh, how the tables have turned. Janis Sarkisian being mean to me."

Janis rolled her eyes. "You aren't helping your case, you know."

"Right. Sorry."

"Okay," Janis nodded to herself. "Okay. Here's where I'm at. You apologized. That's more than I ever expected from you. And I forgave you, which is more than I ever expected from myself. So we're already beating the odds with this friendship. I think the problem we're dealing with here is that you haven't forgiven yourself."

Regina nodded tearfully. "And why should I? I don't deserve it."

Janis chuckled. "Look, let's put this in perspective. Sure, what you did was bad. I won't deny that. But you're obviously sorry. And you care a lot about making it up to me. It's the thought that counts, right?"

"That's not true and you know it."

"Do I?"

"Yes." Regina brushed a lock of gold hair behind her ear, some of her old self-righteousness returning. "Actions speak louder than words."

Janis shrugged. "I think it's up to everyone to decide which of those they want to believe. And in this case, I'm gonna choose to believe the first thing. Consider us even."

Regina smiled a little. "You should join speech and debate."

Janis snorted. "Hell no. The last thing I need right now is more homework."

Regina laughed, probably a little harder than the joke merited, but Janis couldn't help but join in. Soon both girls were wiping tears of laughter from their eyes.

"Think of it this way, Regina," Janis said when they'd stopped laughing. "Friends don't owe each other anything. That's what separates friendship from acquaintanceship. So." She held out her hand. "Friends?" 

Regina took her hand. "Friends. Now let's go celebrate you're and Cady's somewhat-functional lesbianism."

"Cady's bi."

"You know what I mean."

And maybe for the first time ever, Janis did. "Okay. Let's go see our friends."

So they did.


End file.
